In times of trial....

(12)Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you; (13)but rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ’s sufferings, that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy. (14)If you are reproached for the name of Christ, blessed are you, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. On their part He is blasphemed, but on your part He is glorified."
                                                    --1 Peter 4:12-14


This past week (by far) has been one of the toughest weeks in my life, my marriage, and above all, in my walk with Christ.

I have been praying for a long while that the Lord would show me his Humility in truth, love, and how I too can impart love to my family and loved ones in True humility.

This passage in 1 Peter spoke so dearly to my heart this week.

As Christians the Word tells us repeatedly that we WILL look foolish! That we WILL be tried! That we WILL be persecuted! So why then, is it, that we are utterly flabbergasted when these truths come to pass? If we accept the Word as truth, and WHOLE truth, then we also have to accept the challenges that it lays before us.

We tend to have an idea that "trial" or "tribulation" means the struggle we go through (due to sin), and we place emphasis on our problems and sin areas. But we are missing the mark! The Lord is NOT asking us to become "flaw" minded, always focusing on our sin; but to become "KINGDOM" minded (such as Jesus taught) so we can keep focused on HIM!!!

The Lord does not see us as the broken, sin-filled, flawed men and women that we see ourselves as. No! When he looks at us he sees JESUS! He sees us in perfection! As the true and beautiful creation that he made us to be! He sees our destinies fulfilled and our lives full of Love built on his ROCK(petra).

For those of you that don't already know, my wife and I experienced the loss of an early pregnancy recently. This totally rocked us; devastated us. From the moment we found out that we were going to be expecting another child; THAT is the moment that life began to become a part of our own! Simply knowing was enough. It was enough to begin to dream how this baby would be raised, how his or her life path would go, the way we would love them. Names, dates, and even outfits were all pre-planned in hopes in dreams.

And just as suddenly as we found out we were adding, those hopes and dreams were taken away again.

Now please, understand this... This was NOT the work of God!! Tragedies such as this are NEVER the work of the Lord. Now, that's not to say that God is not ALL-powerful (because he Truly is!) but you have to understand, that God has not come to destroy. God NEVER recants his promises.

Jenifer and I had been seeking diligently that the Lord would make it clear to us when it was time to add to our little family, and he did. The Lord gives us the desires of his heart so that we in turn will pray his heart back to him, and that is just what we did. After much seeking, prayer, and more confirmation than was even comfortable at times, we made the decision to partner with the Lord in agreement, and to place our lives in his hands (once again) and let him make the decision for us. Within less than a month of having made our decision, we found out we were expecting.

In John 10:10, Jesus tells us that "The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly."

Our losing our child was just this: the enemy stealing from us what was rightfully ours. A gift from our Heavenly Father. The enemy would love to pit us against one another. It shows us all over the Word how the devil would love to cause strife and division.

He may slander God to you in order to cast doubt on God’s goodness and shipwreck your faith (Gen 3:4-5)

He may smite you with physical disease (Luke 13:16; Job 2:7)

He may murder you (Ps 106:37; Jn 8:44)

He may persecute you for your godliness (Rev 2:10)

He may ask God for permission to sift you out for concentrated attack and temptation (Luke 22:31)

and the list goes on and on...


All throughout the Word we see examples of how the devil tempts, seeks to kill, destroy, and overthrow the Kingdom in us all. But the enemy is a deceiver! And he CANNOT win!

Job particularly comes to mind when thinking of trial by fire. The enemy sought to tempt Job. To kill his family, to steal his wealth, his health, and above all, his Faith.

But Job was not shaken! Now Job may not have had the ideal reaction throughout all of his trials, even going as far as to curse his own birth (Job chapter 3). But his faith was not shaken! He stood FIRMLY on the promises God set before him! By the end of this story, we also know that God honored Job and his Faith! Even after a little Fatherly chastising-in Love, as a Good Father always does (Job chapters 38,39,40, and 41)- he then rewards his Faith.



In the final chapter of Job's story it reads as this:
(10)And the Lord restored Job’s losses when he prayed for his friends. Indeed the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before. (11)Then all his brothers, all his sisters, and all those who had been his acquaintances before, came to him and ate food with him in his house; and they consoled him and comforted him for all the adversity that the Lord had brought upon him. Each one gave him a piece of silver and each a ring of gold. (Job chapter 42:10,11)
So what is the point I'm making? My point here, is that there are an abundance of reasons for trial, loss, destruction, pain, and anguish that we deal with. But none of it is to be our focus. The Enemy comes to destroy us and those we love. His end-all goal is to prevent our salvation, and keep us as far away from the promises of God as he can.

So we end this note back where we started. In 1 Peter chapter 4.

(12)Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you; (13)but rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ’s sufferings, that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy. (14)If you are reproached for the name of Christ, blessed are you, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. On their part He is blasphemed, but on your part He is glorified."

We rejoice in our trials. We celebrate in times of mourning. This, to me is the greatest Honor of all. That If we have caught the enemies eye to such a degree that he is constantly seeking to bring us down, then he too knows just how valuable we are to our Heavenly Father. So how is your day looking? Have you caught the enemies eye? If so, rejoice!!! You must be doing something right in the eyes of our Lord!